A short while later, Hu Xueyong walked in.
Upon seeing Li Xin, Hu Xueyong immediately knelt down and performed a grand salute.
"Your subject, Hu Xueyong, pays his respects to Your Majesty! Long live the Emperor!"
Looking at Hu Xueyong in front of him, Li Xin shook his head slightly and said, "Xueyong, get up quickly. Sit down!"
Hu Xueyong stood up and sat down next to the imperial desk.
A palace maid brought over a steaming hot drink and placed it next to Hu Xueyong.
"Xueyong, you should try it."
Li Xin pointed to the drinks on the table and said, "This is a specialty of the capital. You probably haven't tried it before. Drinking a hot drink in winter will keep you warm."
"Thank you, Your Majesty."
Hu Xueyong thanked him, picked up the cup on the table, opened his mouth and took a small sip. The taste was indeed good!
"Xueyong, where did you come from this time?"
Looking at Hu Xueyong, Li Xin asked, "At sea or on land?"
"At sea."
Hu Xueyong replied, "This time when we returned from Southeast Asia, the sea was already frozen over when the ship reached Daiyue, so we couldn't move. We landed in Jiaozhou and took the Grand Canal to the capital."
"The situation here in the capital is much better than in Dongning."
Li Xin said with a smile, "I heard that the sea near Jinghai City freezes over for more than a month in winter. It will thaw and be navigable after the New Year."
"Yes, it's much better than Dongning."
Hu Xueyong nodded and said, "However, most of Qingyu Trading Company's production is still in Dongning. Trade still has to go to Dongning."
"That's easy to say."
Li Xin replied with a smile, "Next spring, we'll build some workshops near Jinghai City. It's just soap, bar soap, and glass; we can manufacture those here too."
And next year, a new saltworks will be built in Jinghai City.
With these goods, Jinghai City will gradually become prosperous!
"It's all thanks to His Majesty's excellent leadership!"
Hu Xueyong quickly praised him.
Li Xin shook his head at these flattering remarks.
He looked at Hu Xueyong and asked, "By the way, you've returned from Southeast Asia. How are the grain prices there now?"
"Reply to Your Majesty,"
Hu Xueyong replied, "Since our Dongning auction ended, grain prices in Southeast Asia have skyrocketed. One trading company even stockpiled grain three days in advance and made a fortune. Now, grain prices in Southeast Asia are more than double what they were last year!"
I've heard that people in Champa, Siam, Johor, Jambi, and other countries have expanded their rice cultivation.
Even some indigenous people began to cultivate wasteland and plant rice.
Rice production in Southeast Asia is bound to increase significantly next year!
"So how much do you think rice prices will drop next year?"
Li Xin asked, frowning.
"It will probably drop by 30% or 40%."
Hu Xueyong thought for a moment and said, "This is because we have been hoarding large amounts of grain, which has indirectly caused the price of grain in Southeast Asia to soar."
Furthermore, all exclusive rights to sell and purchase various goods are settled using grain. This will still affect grain prices!
Unless we dump our grain here.
"Hmm."
Li Xin nodded slightly.
He looked at Hu Xueyong and introduced him, saying, "You've come back at just the right time. Nasr Nuh came yesterday, bringing two million shi of grain and another one million shi of grain to purchase weapons and equipment."
Currently, we have stockpiled nearly ten million shi (a unit of dry measure) of grain. This amount of grain is enough to last until the end of next year.
However, it's still unknown how grain prices will change by this time next year.
As you said, grain prices will definitely drop.
Therefore, I'm thinking about whether we should sell some of our grain and take advantage of the current high prices to make a profit.
Anyway, we have enough food now.
We'll buy food with the money next summer.
"Your Majesty, that's a good idea!"
Hu Xueyong's eyes lit up, and he said, "Buying low and selling high is how business works. However, with so much grain here, if we take out several million shi at once, it will probably drive down the price of grain in Southeast Asia."
Therefore, we cannot rush.
I think we can sell them little by little!
"We can take action against those large merchants in Southeast Asia who are hoarding grain!"
"Let's launch an attack?"
Li Xin frowned slightly and asked, "What do you mean by that?"
"His Majesty,"
Hu Xueyong explained, “Some big merchants in Southeast Asia hoard grain and speculate on goods. In the past few years, they have not only made a lot of money from Dongning, but also made a lot of money from other merchants in the past six months.”
The big merchants and grain traders in Southeast Asia are very wealthy and don't even take us seriously.
We can take advantage of this opportunity to show them what we're capable of.
They wanted to hoard food, so we brought the food over and sold it little by little.
Watching them eat it bit by bit.
If they wait until there's an oversupply of grain and prices drop, they'll be stuck with unsold grain.
"At that time, they'll obediently give back all the money they earned from Dongning."
Listening to Hu Xueyong's words, Li Xin suddenly recalled the war between the two whites and one black in later generations.
Some unscrupulous merchants who hoard goods and speculate on prices are trying to use their monopoly position to make huge profits.
However, what they didn't know was that they were not fighting against ordinary trading companies, but against trading companies backed by the state!
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